Warmin' my heart

Sometimes my students are just so mean (especially now that they're 6th-graders) and sometimes they're just so sweet. We just had a speech contest yesterday, which we've been preparing for for over a month. There are two kids in my one class who are just born hams and were pretty much shoe-ins to win from our class and go to the final round. (In fact, I lobbied to let 3 kids into the final round so everyone else would have a chance.) That whole class did really well- I was proud of them. Even the shy kids made a real effort to be audible and add some intonation.
Today the two shoe-ins were trying to get me to tell them who the winners from our class are (which won't be revealed until Friday) and the one girl who's won every year told me, "I don't think it's me. I don't think I did very well." I asked her how she'd feel if she didn't go to the final round, and she said, "It's OK. I don't really deserve it, and it will give some other people a chance." Can you believe it? It really made my day to hear that. (And we're sending her through, but not because of that!)